John’s letter cautioned Christians of the two contrasting spheres of life: a life of righteousness that can be called “light” and a life of lies called “darkness”. To have fellowship with God, we must walk in the light for “God is light”. Those who walk in the light are not hiding anything. It even calls us to acknowledge our sins and repent of them. Pretending that we never sin is to live a lie. We still hide in darkness. Christ sets the criterion between those who walk in the light or in darkness. He is the point of reference because He has offered Himself as the sacrificial offering for the whole world to see their lies. The blood He shed on the cross exposed the darkness of sin. As children of the light, we can hear His cry in the crib and on the cross, so that we will not fall into keeping hidden evil intent to terminate life.

Herod’s intent to have all the male children who are two years old and below killed so that he may get rid of the divine child, is cooperating with evil and lies. He failed to recognise that infants are messages of God. Even now, infants who died are the innocents for Jesus. Theirs is a holy death. The infant Jesus was to grow to fulfill a higher purpose to save humanity from its sin.